It began with a cup of coffee
by Oh perilous world
Summary: Margaret wasn't the type of person to do blind dates, but when her best friend Bonney approached her that day, asking her for a favor, she certainly wasn't expecting this of all things.


**Disclaimer: I own none of One Piece. All rights belong to Eiichiro Oda and his creative team.**

**A/N: Let me start by saying, I HATE OCs. Whenever I try to write a story I try to leave out OCs if possible. My favorite character was Margaret and I was HOPING (prying every night) that she would become one of the Straw Hat Pirates and have a bigger role in the series. I just love her sweet, naïve and honest personality. Second, I am very fond of Trafalgar Law and his laid back character. **

**I love both Margaret and Law. And since they had that cute 3 seconds scene together in episode 491, why not start a fic about them. : ) Law's stern and calm demeanor and Margaret's sweet, naïve personality, they're just way to cute together.**

**-I'd also like to give thanks to Wind Scarlett and Momofletti for being the first two authors to write fan fiction on this pairing. THANK YOU. **

**-So why not help us grow the Margaret/Law community. **

**-I also apologize for any mistakes you may find in spelling, wording, or grammar. **

Chapter 1: It began with a cup of coffee

Margaret wasn't the type of person to do blind dates, but when her best friend Bonney approached her that day, asking her for a favor, she certainly wasn't expecting this of all things. Margaret was never into the whole dating thing to begin with, when the end result was clearly heartbreak for her. She was timid, naïve, and clumsy, clearly not the ideal girl for any guy, but she also had a kind and gentle side that Bonney would describe as "angelic" if you knew her long enough, you'd know what she meant. That's why Margaret was here today because she just couldn't say no to anyone she cared deeply for. Bonney was her first and only friend and Margaret felt like she owed Bonney a great deal. She was never really good at making friends in the first place.

Margaret sat by a small coffee table, gazing fondly outside the café window. This café was her favorite place for coffee, but she had only been here a couple of times in person. A café that made house deliveries was out of the question, but considering Margaret social status, it wasn't difficult to convince the shop's owner. She waited patiently for her mystery man to appear; no one really bothered her besides the many waitresses asking if she'd like a refill and also the store's manager would come by and ask her if she was finding everything to her liking. To this Margaret would smiled and nod her head.

Bonney had texted Margaret on how her date would look like, hat, yellow shirt, black hair, name starts with the letter L, simple. Margaret reread the text message Bonney sent her. 'Wonder where he is?' she thought to herself, still staring at her phone.

"Hey, you're Bonney's friend aren't you?" Margaret twisted in her chair and looked up at the newcomer. So this was her mystery man, she thought, looking over the boy with her hazelnut brown eyes.

Dark hair, grey eyes, yellow shirt and to top it off he had a northern style fur hat covered in white with little spots along the rim. He held two cups of hot cappuccino in his hands and handed one to Margaret. "Here, I got this for you." What a gentlemen and good looking to.

Margaret looked at the cup surprisingly; she gently took it from his hands and smiled in return. "Thank you."

The man made himself comfortable on the other side of table, his chair made a scraping noise against the floor as he pulled it back to sit on it.

"I didn't know you were friends with Bonney?" He said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"She's my best friend." Margaret responded back quietly, a bit shy to be in the presence of a complete hottie.

"Really," He seemed genially surprised by this, as he stopped sipping his coffee and was now staring at her. Margaret met his eyes and shyly avoided his gaze by looking at the ground.

"I see Bonney all the time, but I don't see you with her at all." He said, with hand still on his coffee cup.

"W-well, my parents…." Margaret began to find the right words to help the man comprehend what she meant. "They're really over protective of me, so Bonney and I rarely hang out." Margaret knew this was one of the reasons why she could never keep a steady relationship. Her parents always scared them off.

The man chuckled lightly, causing Margaret to blush in embarrassment. He probably thought she was a little kid or something. Great, just great.

"So, how did you manage to come here then?" He asked, while leaning on the chair bored.

"Well, I kind of…snuck out." She said a bit louder, feeling more confident in herself; she was now able to look at him. She noticed the little details about him, like how he had small sideburns edge around his face and a little black goatee resting neatly on his chin. The tiny gold earrings pierced on either side of his ears also caught her attention. They made him look. Rebellious.

"Oh really, looks like we got a rebel here," He said with a smirk.

Margaret caught his smirked and all her confidence ran out the door as she stared down at the floor again. Bye, bye confidence, we'll never meet again.

"You don't look like the type to do that sort of thing." He now rested his arm on the table and leaned his face into the palm of his hand, eyeing Margaret with curiosity. "…you know the little miss perfect type."

Margaret found herself slowly looking back up at him. "My parents tell me that I am perfect." She began, "…but, I am not." Margaret looked around nervously, hoping no one heard this besides the man. Her parents said that if she were ever to say anything that would make people think lowly of her, then she would get in serious trouble.

The man stood up from his seat and pushed the chair back into the table. Margaret had stopped looking around, her eye only fixed on him. He sighed while rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, how about it then?" He turned his handsome face towards her, a smirked plastered on his face. "Since this might be the last time I get to meet like this, why not make it a memorable one." He grabbed her wrist gently and pulled her up from her seat. "Just try not to embarrass me."

Margaret almost tripped as he grabbed her, but he steadied her easily back onto her feet. "Watch it now, twinkle toes." He lead through the café and almost out the door when. "W-wait, I didn't leave a tip for them." She said, trying to pull herself free from the man.

"What?" He frowned at her, "No one leaves tips here."

"But I have to show them my appreciation." Margaret persisted.

"What the. Fine. Here." He said, taking out a dollar bill and placing it on the table. He then proceeded to drag Margaret out of the café.

"What, that's it, those people work hard, they deserve more." Margaret complained.

He swirled around and looked at her, "Does it look like I am loaded. Besides most people here just might spend it on something you wouldn't approve of."

They were both out of the café and were now walking the streets. The man still had his hand on Margaret's wrist while she followed quietly behind him. Her eyes fell on his hand, then up his arm at something interesting. Many tattoos plagued his arm, but she couldn't help but notice the letters D.E.A.T. and H tattooed on his fingers. She especially liked the tattoo that looked a lot like a smiling sun.

"We're here." He stopped abruptly, letting go of Margaret wrist.

Margaret slammed into his backside and blushed when he turned around and smiled at her. "Not hurt are we?" He asked her.

Margaret decided to ignore that. "Where are we?" She asked. They were standing outside a tall and dark building. The neon sign flashed the word; "Heart Pirates' Bar" is a bright yellow and orange mixture of lights.

"What, you've never seen a bar before?" He asked her, smirking yet again at her naivety.

"Well, I know what a bar is, but even if I wanted to go, I am only seventeen. Plus, I don't even know you that well." She said a little disappointed that she had come all this way for nothing. She turned around to leave, but a hand caught her own, stopping her from leaving.

"Calm down, don't freak out on me." The man said, pulling her back to his side. "I didn't know you were such a wimp, but if you prefer, we can go to Chuck E Cheeses instead."

Margaret tilted her head, "What, why, is that another bar?" she asked.

The man laughed, causing Margaret to blush feverishly. "Don't worry, I'll keep that a secret between us."

"Don't worry, as long as you're with me, you'll be fine, I promise." He said without even looking at her.

Margaret looked up at him the blush still on her face. That was the sweetest thing she had ever heard from someone. The only other person to say words even remotely close to this was Bonney. She never trusted strangers, that was one of her number one rules, but something about this man…. this man she had only met for an hour or two at the most, she felt she could trust him with her life. She didn't even feel this way about her parents. Her oh so loving parents.

The man dragged her up to the front of the building and pushed the door open, a small bell chimed as they both entered. The tavern was pretty small, not much bigger than a regular sized cottage. The inside was dimly lit, probably due to the fact that some of the light bulbs had burned out and never been replaced, some tables were lined up against the wall and two billiard tables took up the center of the room. Two men looked up from behind a long stretched counter and smiled widely as the two entered.

"Hey, what's up." One of workers said. This man had his face covered by a black and yellow cap with the word "penguin" written on it.

"Ah. Law, finally," The other one greeted. He was wearing black sunglasses, along with a red rimmed and blue hat. His brown hair was as long as Margaret, maybe even longer.

"Hey, Penguin, Shachi." Law greeted back.

So his name was Law, Margaret thought. What a strange name. But what was even stranger was that she hadn't even asked him his name yet. Margaret almost face palmed at how stupid she was.

Law dragged Margaret over to a stool by the bar counter with him taking the seat right next to her.

"Whose this Law?" The man named Shachi looked curiosity at the blonde haired girl. "Hi there."

Margaret inched back a little, feeling her shyness kick in. "Hi." She said, "I am Margaret."

Shachi smiled and gave a knowing look a Law, who was busy downing a shot of scotch given to him by Penguin. "I am shachi," He said. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Oi, Shachi, that's enough." Law sent a glare at him as he held the shot cup in his hand.

"Alright, alright, I got it." Shachi laughed, knowing perfectly well what Law meant.

Margaret stared at the two as they chattered away. "You want anything, miss?" Penguin asked her while polishing a glass with a wash cloth.

Margaret eyes went bold. She shook her head feverishly. "I-I don't d-drink." She stuttered. Drinking was a bad, bad, bad thing. It slowed the movement of the body, made people want to vomit, and not to mention the hammering headaches you would get in the morning. Well, that's what Bonney would tell her.

The man Penguin had stopped polishing his glass, slightly grinning in amazement at Margaret. "Oh, really now. Well, at least that better than this guy over here." He said pointing his thumb at Law. Law saw this and grunted a bit. "You can learn something from her."

"Where's Bepo?" Law asked downing another shot of scotch. "He's usually here."

Shachi sighed, "Hm, I am pretty sure he's out back doing something. I am not too—" He was cut off when a man came into the room, caring a dirty mod in his hand. "I finished cleaning the floors in the back." He said cheerfully, giving his co-workers a marine like salute.

"GWAH, Bepo, that mob's dirty, don't bring it in here!" Shachi and Penguin yelled in unison.

"Sorry." Bepo sadly hung his head. From what Margaret could see instead of wearing a hat like Penguin and Shachi, this man was dressed in a type of cosplay. A polar bear kigurumi suit, too be for precise. She thought it was cute. Margaret giggled quietly to herself, but not quite enough because Bepo had then stared to stare at her.

"I am sorry." Bepo hung his head again. Margaret quickly stopped and apologized for laughing at him.

"No, I am sorry." She said back to him, bowing her head gracefully.

"No, I am sorry." Bepo said back.

"I am sorry."

"No, I am sorry."

"I am sorry."

"No, I am sorry."

Shachi, Penguin, and Law stared at the ridiculous scene. Shachi and Penguin face palmed while Law let out an amusing laugh. "Hey you two, I am going to get really annoyed."

"I am sorry." Margaret and Bepo apologized to Law.

To this everyone in the bar laughed. Penguin, Shachi , Law, Bepo and Margaret. This was odd, Margaret thought, usually she would never be this comfortable being herself to complete strangers. It took Bonney almost a year to make Margaret laughed and even that only came out as a giggle. But these people did it so easily. Margaret almost felt….at home.

"Welcome to Heart Pirates' Bar, Margaret." Penguin smiled and placed a small shot glass filled with scotch in front of her. "Cheers." He said, holding up his own glass along with Bepo,Shachi and Law.

Margaret stared at the cup, debating whether or not to down the drink. She didn't want to upset them by not drinking it, that was just plain rude. But something in her felt rebellious at that moment. She wanted to down the scotch along with every bottle of liquor in the house. Besides, it looked a lot like apple juice.

"Oh, sorry about," Penguin suddenly felt guilty, "I forgot you don't drink. Let me just—"

"Wait," Margaret spoke up, stopping Penguin from taking the glass away. "I'll drink it."

Law whistled, "Looks like the princess is coming out of her shell." He said, smirking at her. Margaret ignored him.

"Cheers." They said in unison and clang their glasses together. The four of them finished their drinks in one gulp while Margaret sat there, hesitating. No, no, no, she couldn't back down now, not after she said she'd do it. She closed her eyes and brought the glass to her lips, she gulped it down like it was some kind of bad flu medicine or something. To her surprise, she was right. Sure as hell, it didn't taste like apple juice, it was bitter and nasty. How could anyone possible drink this stuff? The look of disgust was plastered all over her face.

Law noticed this and chucked. "I figured you wouldn't like it much."

Margaret glared at him, "If you knew I wouldn't like it, then why give it to me." She pouted.

"Hey, the decision was ultimately yours." He shrugged.

"Here try this." Shachi placed another type of drink in from of Margaret. It was bigger than a shot and much fancier too. "It's a martini." He said proudly, "Mastered how to make it a week ago."

Margaret looked at the drink, it looked a lot like water with an olive, but that's what she thought about scotch looking like apple juice.

"Woah, hold on their Shachi, don't try to poison her now." Law looked at seriously, "Last time I had one of your martinis, it tasted like someone peed in there."

"Hey that was a week ago." Shachi defended himself. "I mastered it now, it taste awesome."

"I have a hard time believing that—"

"Wow," Margaret interjected between the two, "It taste…..great." Shachi beamed in delight, proud of himself while Law stared at her dumbfounded.

"Can, I have another?" Margaret asked Shachi.

"Of course, coming right up," Shachi hummed happily and started making another martini for her.

From the door, a small chiming of bells rang. Shachi, Penguin, Bepo, Law and Margaret turned their heads to the doorway. A group of scary looking mobsters strolled in. Dressed in black sunglasses like Shachi and wearing black suits. They looked around for an empty table and sat down at the one nearest to the corner. Bepo quickly put away his mop and took out a notepad and a pen. He hastily made his way to the new guest and started taking their orders.

Penguin was cleaning the countertop while Shachi started to measure the exact amount of ingredients for a perfect martini. Law was drinking another round of shots. He stared at Margaret from the corner of his eyes, she was complete frozen, her head was hung low, causing her blonde hair to cover her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked her with a worried tone.

"I-I need to get out of here." She said loud enough for only Law to hear "Help me."

He was surprised at her sudden request. "Why should I." That jerk. For the very first time Margaret could feel herself getting very angry. She turned her head around to look back at Bepo and the group of mobsters and quickly turned back to Law.

"Those guys work for my family, if they find out I am here, I'll get in serious trouble." She said nervously.

Law only poured more scotch into his glass. "Ah, that's not good." He said casually.

Margaret bald her fists, "You're the one who brought me here."

"You could have stayed behind."

"You jerk." She whispered at him.

Law gulped down another glass his 10th one. "Ok, let's make a deal then."

Margaret looked at him curiously, "What kind of deal?" she can't believe she was even him. She need to get out of here fast, before the men in suits recognized her. She couldn't just get up and leave; they'd see her walk out and start chasing after her.

"If you want my help," Law smirked, "You need to go out on a date with me."

Margaret gawked at him, "W-what, we're already on one." She said this while blushing. It was sort of like a date wasn't it.

Law slouched over the counter top while his hand mixed the glass of scotch. "What are you talking about, we're just hanging out." He said with a smile. "A real date, something much more entertaining."

Margaret's heart started to beat faster, she wasn't sure if it was of Law's proposal or the fact that her Father's henchmen were right in the same room as her. She gulped.

"I am going to hit the bar." One of the men said from the corner table.

Oh shit, Margaret thought, if that guy came any closer, he'd definitely know it was her for sure. She didn't see any other way.

"Ok, fine you win." Margaret said suddenly. "I'll go on a date with you."

"Great." Law said happily. "Shachi, Penguin, forget about that stuff." The two of them looked up in surprise. "Miss Margaret would like to leave now," Law stood up from his seat, "Through the back door."

Margaret would have scream if Penguin did not cover her mouth just in time, as Law took a bottle from the counter and flung it with so much force at the gentlemen in the corner that it hit the wall and smashed into tiny shards of glass. They all jumped out of their seats in shock.

"What the hell!" One of them yelled, "Who the f—"

"Hey, over here old man." Law smirked at them.

They stared at him in disgust, did this guy have a death wish. "Kid, you're gonna pay for that." They said, cracking their knuckles.

"Bepo." Was all Law had to say to the cosplaying polar bear. Bepo quickly grabbed the hand of the closes man and started to swing him around. "Aye, aye captain."

Shachi quickly joined in, grabbing the mop Bepo had earlier and charging into the chaos.

Penguin took this time to quietly lead Margaret to safety. They maneuvered through the kitchen and supplies in the back, passing by bags of sugar and potatoes, and out the back door. This led her out to an alleyway.

"If you follow it all the way down, then you'll get back to the café in no time." Penguin told her.

"Thanks so much, I really appreciate it." Margaret said.

"Ah, no problem, sorry I can't escort you all the way back, but If I leave those three alone they might kill someone." Penguin laughed nervously.

"It's all my fault…." Margaret said sadly, "…If you guys get hurt."

Penguin smiled, "Ah, don't worry about us, we do this kind of stuff mostly every day."

Margaret wasn't sure whether he was trying to make her feel better or not with that statement. "Just be careful."

Penguin gave her a nod, "You're welcome back anytime." He said one last time, before running back into the bar. A smile crept up Margaret face as she run down the alleyway back to the café.

When she finally reached the café, it was already around 6 P.M and getting dark. She had to get back home by 8 for dinner. If the maids didn't find her in her room they'd be sure to freak out. Margaret hollered for a taxi, telling the drive her address, he quickly drove her home. She looked out the cab window, watching the many building pass by her. She rested her head against the plush cushion of her seat and yawned.

She thought back to what everything that happened today, oh how she was going to yell at Bonney for getting her into this mess. But then she thought about how much fun she actually had. The first time a boy held her hand, the first time she had laughed so happily, the first time she had her first alcoholic drink and the first time her heart fluttered. And it was all because of him. His tall slim figure, the faint shadows under his alluring grey eyes, the gold piercing that hung on his ears and the unforgettable smile of his.

She was about to fall asleep when her phone rang inside her pocket. Margaret looked at the caller ID and was happy to see it was Bonney.

"Hello Bonney." She said happily.

On the other side Bonney wasn't too happy. "What the heck Margaret."

Margaret jumped in her seat a little. "B-Bonney, what's wrong." She stuttered nervously.

"I didn't know you'd do that kind of thing, especially to me."

"Hold on, hold on," Margaret frowned, "What do you mean Bonney, what did I do."

Bonney clicked her tongue. "You stood him up. Luffy, the boy I set you up with. The guy you were supposed to meet at the café. Duh."

Margaret dropped her phone on the ground and froze in shock. What did Bonney just say? Her mystery man was a guy named Luffy? Then, Law wasn't her date after all.

The taxi drove pass downtown and Margaret couldn't help but stare out the window as they passed by "Heart Pirates' Bar." Then, Law wasn't her date after all, it was some guy named Luffy, but then….who was this guy named Law?

This was originally a one shot, but I liked the story plot a lot, so why not make it a multichapter fic. : )

It's pretty easy to mistake Law or Luffy if you compare them. Luffy had a yellow vest, hat and black hair in the name and so did Law. So I thought it would be a nice, fun idea.

Please leave a review when you have the time. The more reviews the faster the next chapter will be up.


End file.
